Melinda Warren
Melinda Warren was the only child of two mortals, Charlotte Warren and Lawrence Cutler. Born on October 31, 1670, she was an exceptionally powerful witch who possessed the powers of telekinesis, molecular immobilization, and premonition. She started the line of Warren witches which, as prophesied by Melinda herself, culminated in the arrival of the three (actually four) most powerful witches of all time; the Charmed Ones. History To The Warren Born Early in her pregnancy, a mortal woman named Charlotte Warren sought the help of a witch for abortion. The witch, then called Isabel, was actually the very first original witch. Isabel told her that her child was magical since she gave her a mother a premonition that informed her that her lover, Lawrence, was never coming back. She also confessed that she knew more than what she could share, which was why she could not help in the way Charlotte desired. However, she did intend to help through a different solution: she gave Charlotte a talisman in the shape of the triquetra, which would lead her to Eva, a good witch who would help her see her child safely into the world, and convinced her to do so not only for the sake of her child, but also for the future of "us all". Birth Two years after the Halliwell sisters became the Charmed Ones, they were sent through a portal to the year 1670, to help Eva and her coven save a woman pregnant with a coveted magical child from an evil witch named Ruth Cobb. Ruth captured Charlotte when she went into labor, wanting to raise the child to be evil. The Charmed Ones, with the help of Eva and her coven, rescued Charlotte. With their recently acquired knowledge of natural magic, the Charmed Ones created a protective shield of good magic that Charlotte gave birth to her child in. Later, Charlotte revealed that her newborn child's name was going to be Melinda Warren, whom the Charmed Ones knew to be the founder of their magical family line."All Halliwell's Eve" Most of Melinda's story after her birth is unknown besides the fact that she moved from Colonial Virginia to Salem, Massachusetts during the Witch Trials. Sometime during her life, Melinda gave birth to a daughter whom she named Prudence, and also created the Warren Book of Shadows, who would eventually become the most powerful and coveted tome of witchcraft in the world. Affair with Matthew Tate During her time in Salem, Melinda had a lover named Matthew Tate who turned out to be a warlock. He used their "love" as a way to gain her trust and copy her active powers. He outed her as a witch, thus betraying her and making her realize his deceit. After finding out about Matthew's betrayal, Melinda concocted a plan of revenge. When Matthew came to her before her death to gloat, she tricked him into opening her Pewter Heart locket. Cursing the locket with a potion and a spell, Melinda locked Matthew into it, never to be released unless one of her descendants was to open it. Death and Prophecy After Matthew Tate outed Melinda as a witch, she was trapped and condemned to be burned at the stake. Melinda did not use her powers to escape, as it would have confirmed her as a witch and put her daughter's life in jeopardy. The day Melinda was burned at the stake, she prophesied the arrival of three sister witches, the Charmed Ones, who would be the most powerful witches ever. Meeting the Charmed Ones Nearly three hundred years later, not long after Melinda's latest descendants Prue, Piper, and Phoebe Halliwell became the Charmed Ones, Melinda's locket ended up at Buckland Auction House. The warlocks Rex Buckland and Hannah Webster wanted to prove that Prue was a descendant of Melinda Warren, thus confirming that she and her sisters are indeed the Charmed Ones. Rex acquired the locket and set things in motion for Prue to open it, which set the warlock Matthew Tate free. Matthew tricked Prue to use her power on him, and eventually copied it. After Phoebe had a premonition of Melinda cursing Matthew into the locket, the sisters found out who he really was. With no known ways of vanquishing him, the sisters summoned Melinda from the afterlife to help them curse him into the locket again. After helping the Charmed Ones to brew the potion and finally cast the spell to trap Matthew forever, she gave the sisters a last goodbye, and told them that she couldn't stay because it wasn't her time; it was theirs. Before she left, Phoebe placed Melinda's hand on her chest which triggered a premonition of more generations of her beautiful daughters. Melinda was then released back into the afterlife, full of joy to see her dreams come true."The Witch is Back" Helping reclaim the Heavens Eight years later, Melinda met the fourth Charmed One, Paige for the first time after her soul crossed over to the afterlife. Melinda's ancestor, the first witch, now called Neena, tried to unite the Heavens and the Underworld, Melinda and the other deceased Warren witches left the afterlife to join the battle the swarm against Neena's army. On Paige's cue, Melinda opened the gates to the afterlife and plunged into the action, eventually succeeded in binding Neena's magic and separate the two realms. She returned to the afterlife right after, along with the rest of her descendants. Powers and Abilities ;Basic Powers * Spell Casting: The ability to cast spells and perform rituals. * Potion Making: The ability to brew potions. * Scrying: The ability to locate a person or object by the use of a scrying crystal, a map, and sometimes other tools. * Mediumship: The ability to see and commune with spirits of the dead. ;Active Powers * Telekinesis: The ability to move objects using only the power of one's mind. * Molecular Immobilization: The ability to slow the molecules of an object or a person down to the point that they appear to be frozen in time. * Premonition: The ability to see future, present, and past events in time. ;Other Powers *'High Resistance:' The ability to be highly resistant to physical and magical harm. Legacy At Piper Halliwell's wedding to Leo Wyatt, the "something old" found by Phoebe was Melinda Warren's Blessing Cup that she drank from at her wedding.As seen in "Just Harried". It was revealed to Piper when she and her sisters travel into the future that she would eventually have a daughter who was named Melinda.As seen in "Morality Bites". A few years later when she got pregnant, she planned to name the baby Prudence Melinda after both her ancestor and her late sister, only to surprisingly have a son, instead.As seen in "Baby's First Demon" Eventually, Piper did have a daughter, whom she named Melinda. Notes and Trivia *For Piper's wedding, Phoebe found Melinda's blessing cup that she used at her wedding. Presumably, her husband William Jackson possibly left or died sometime before Melinda's affair with Matthew Tate. *Prue said that she and her sisters could always summon her, however Melinda wasn't seen again in the series, except for "All Halliwell's Eve", when the sisters met her as a newborn baby, and in "Last Witch Effort" and "The Charmed Offensive" as a spirit. *The family tree seen in "Pardon My Past" says that William Warren married Melinda Jackson. This is a mistake, as Melinda was born a Warren. *According to the family tree, Melinda and William had a son, too. However, his existence is disputed by Penny's statement about Wyatt Halliwell being the first male in generations. *In the Book of Shadows, the title page says that the book was created in 1693. This wouldn't be possible since Melinda created it, yet died one year before the Book's written date. *She appears to be the first of the Warren Line to name her child Prudence, which will be quite popular in the family well into the future. *Paige Matthews finally meets Melinda in "Last Witch Effort". *Melinda's birth can be seen as a precursor to Wyatt Halliwell's birth: both Charlotte and Piper were kidnapped in labor; Melinda and Wyatt were prophesied to be extremely powerful children that could be swayed to good or evil. *The character is probably named after Mary Warren who took part in the real Salem witch trials. The show's creator and writer, Constance M. Burge, named the character "Melinda" after her niece. *Piper with the help of Phoebe and Prue, delivered her. *It is likely that the only reason the Warren line knew the Charmed Ones would one day be in their family is because the Charmed Ones themselves told Charlotte Warren that they were related in the episode All Halliwell's Eve. *Melinda was featured in the first non-canonical novel, The Power of Three: she appears to Phoebe as a disfigured ghost to tell her what she and her sisters are, and warn them about the first warlock. In the novel's Book of Shadows, Melinda moved from England to America with her two-year-old daughter, Cassandra, and had an affair with a man named Hugh Montgomery, who outed her secret to the townsfolk of Salem. **In addition, she appeared in two short stories of The Warren Witches: Witch Trap, where she is summoned by the sisters for information; and in Family History where her younger and timid self helps her descendants vanquish the demon, Astarte. *Melinda Warren was featured in the Book of Shadows of the rebooted Charmed series. It was an Easter egg to the original show. Appearances Melinda Warren appeared in a total of 2''' episodes, and '''2 comic issues throughout the franchise. References Category:Characters Category:Witches Category:Warren Witches Category:Unseen Book of Shadows Entry Category:Deceased Category:Innocents Category:Comic Characters Category:Vanquished or Killed Category:Book of Shadows entries Category:Articles derived from novel content